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It's a really good book! I felt that the strength of the story really comes in the later half, so much so that I'm not even sure I would call the first few expository paragraphs especially pertinent to what the novel, in my eyes, really accomplishes in the end. In the same vein, I really wasn't a fan of the place of alcoholism and the identity of being an addict had in a lot of the story. It added to Cyrus' struggle in a few places certainly, but it general it felt to me to be more of a gimmick to easily and cheaply give the protagonist some sort of depth: some degree of struggle and complexity in character.
However, what saved the story for me was that what I felt was a misguided attempt to create an intriguing narrator by tossing in an "AA" scen was far overshadowed by a fantastic development of Cyrus and of his familial history. Kaveh Akbar is so very witty and poetic in expressing this very universal feeling of wanting to both die and be inportant. What a great subversion of this idea of martyrdom, and what a perfect perspective to do it from! Akbar dismantles both the political martyrdom as experienced in Iran and the artistic martyrdom experienced by those ennui-infatuated types who obsess over legacy -- over how much their work "matters".
While I didnt feel like it was a groundbreaking work on a sort of philosophical front, it was an entertaining and well-written story of struggle against the world. It was a journey of a young man's (and, in such a surprising twist, his mother's) search for meaning in the face of so much personal tragedy. Lastly, it's a reminder to consider that maybe all those ideas and accomplisments you're willing to die for aren't so important as those people whom you'd spend your whole life living for.
tl;dr: very fun, very thoughtful!
"The first time I died, I wasn't even there. The whole payoff, the answer to the question of what happens afterward—I didn't get any of that."
However, what saved the story for me was that what I felt was a misguided attempt to create an intriguing narrator by tossing in an "AA" scen was far overshadowed by a fantastic development of Cyrus and of his familial history. Kaveh Akbar is so very witty and poetic in expressing this very universal feeling of wanting to both die and be inportant. What a great subversion of this idea of martyrdom, and what a perfect perspective to do it from! Akbar dismantles both the political martyrdom as experienced in Iran and the artistic martyrdom experienced by those ennui-infatuated types who obsess over legacy -- over how much their work "matters".
While I didnt feel like it was a groundbreaking work on a sort of philosophical front, it was an entertaining and well-written story of struggle against the world. It was a journey of a young man's (and, in such a surprising twist, his mother's) search for meaning in the face of so much personal tragedy. Lastly, it's a reminder to consider that maybe all those ideas and accomplisments you're willing to die for aren't so important as those people whom you'd spend your whole life living for.
tl;dr: very fun, very thoughtful!
"The first time I died, I wasn't even there. The whole payoff, the answer to the question of what happens afterward—I didn't get any of that."